The Greatest Railroad Story Ever Told: The Florida East Coast Railway’s Key West Extension

By Seth H. Bramson

This article is a story of superlatives. Henry Morrison Flagler—Florida’s Empire Builder—was, is and always will be the single greatest name in the history of Florida, while the Key West Extension of the Flagler-owned Florida East Coast Railway was, is and will always remain—absolutely, positively, unequivocally, inarguably and incontestably—the greatest railroad engineering and construction feat in U. S. (and, possibly, world) history.

The building...